CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The unemployment rate in the United State has now hit its highest mark since the great depression at 14.7 percent. As recently as March, unemployment in South Carolina was below three percent.

While we know the federal unemployment rate, we do not have the latest number for the state. The most recent numbers from March show the state at an unemployment rate of just 2.6 percent, but that survey was done just before restaurants closed and thousands of people were laid off.

To get an idea of what unemployment truly looks like in the state we can take a look at the insured unemployment rate. That is the number of people receiving benefits as a percentage of the workforce. It is an unofficial rate but could give us a glimpse at what unemployment looks like right now.

As of last week, South Carolina’s insured unemployment rate was 11.55 percent. That number would include those people who currently can’t work because their jobs were shut down by the governor’s order but hope to go back soon.

“450,000 plus people had been in need of some kind of relief,” said Jamie Suber, Chief Administrative Officer at the Department of Employment and Workforce. “With the unemployment rate and how that is derived, you know, unemployment is just one factor that goes into that.”

Restaurants and bars make up nearly three-quarters of the jobs lost around the country.